A Fan of Sweets
by kawaii-kirei
Summary: Their cooking project was to bake cookies and give it to their sempais, and Shishido wonders why he hasn't got one from Choutarou. [Silver Pair, ShishidoChoutarou, oneshot, fluff]


**Title: **A Fan of Sweets

**  
Author: **kawaii-kirei "KK"  
**Rating: **PG or K+**  
Pairing: **Silver Pair

**Disclaimer: **Prince of Tennis and all of its characters do not and never will belong to me.

**Author's Notes: **It's been so long since I last wrote a proper one-shot. It's been _months_, or a year, even. I have no idea how this exactly came about. I wasn't even planning on writing a Silver Pair fic anytime soon, but the idea just popped inside my head and since I had nothing better to do, I sat down and wrote it, but never did I expect that I'd finish this tonight, even if it is already 5 in the morning. xD This is different from my usual writing style, which was inspired by reading an AtoJi fic in LJ, Happy Accidents by scoradh. I highly recommend it, and although it's long, every word is definitely worth it. I'm actually quite fond of this newfound style. xD;;

I'm sorry, but writing more than 1,500 words in one seating makes me sorta shaky, which is why I'm rambling, but I'll stop now.

Oh, and I'm not used to writing about Hyotei, so if there's any wrong information, please tell me. xD;;

Please enjoy:D

* * *

**A F A N O F S W E E T S**

**b y k a w a i i – k i r e i**

Shishido Ryou doesn't like to make big deals out of small problems, so when a girl had walked up to him, stuttering and blushing and offering him a set of her handmade cookies, he had bluntly refused and walked away, closing his mind to shield out the pangs of guilt that might push through the barriers of his conscience.

When Choutarou had asked him why he didn't take the chocolate, especially when the girl had gone out of her way to make them especially for him, he had simply replied that he hated sweet stuff, and that was it, that was the end of the problem.

That was nearly a month ago, though, and he has all but forgotten the incident, as well as the existence of the girl.

That is how Shishido Ryou lives in such a carefree way.

Right now he is faced with a new problem, but yet that does not deter him from focusing on practice, because – once again – Shishido Ryou doesn't like to make big deals out of small problems. It just bothered him a little, that's all, about the fact that Hiyoshi and Taki was chewing thoughtfully on a cookie and making small, nearly inaudible sounds of contentment as they got ready for tennis practice.

Now, he is not one to care about what his teammates ate. They could eat cockroaches for breakfast for all he cared, and that wouldn't change his thoughts about them. He is also not bothered by the fact that _Hiyoshi and Taki _were eating cookies before tennis practice, although the sounds of contentment did irritate him a little.

No, those weren't the reasons why there seemed to be a small prickle of annoyance at the back of his neck. To be perfectly honest with you, he really didn't know _why _he was so bothered. Something at the back of his mind supplied unhelpfully that it might have been because the cookie _was made by Choutarou_ and that _Hiyoshi and Taki _were eating it, but Shishido didn't think so.

Why would he be bothered over such a trivial thing such as _that_?

The small of prickle of annoyance didn't go away.

**iii**

When Atobe and Kabaji entered the courts, Shishido was, to say the least, shocked to see that the two of them were eating the same auburn-colored chocolate chip cookie that Hiyoshi and Taki had been eating earlier.

As if to answer the question that was invisible but was undoubtedly found beneath Shishido's bewildered expression, Atobe said royally, "Ore-sama does not usually eat cookies unless they are shipped from Germany, but Ohtori's cookies are not bad, na, Kabaji?"

"Usu."

Shishido simply scratched the back of his neck.

**iii**

It was nearly evening, and the sun was starting to set, illuminating Hyotei Gakuen with a beautiful orange, sunset façade. Tennis practice was over, and everyone was starting to pack up and leave, and he was nearly all alone in the campus grounds now, and _where was Choutarou, anyway?_

Shishido's fingers twitched, yet he resisted the urge to scratch at his neck yet again. Splashing some water on his face, he tried to get rid of that small prickle of annoyance but to no avail. With a small, albeit frustrated sigh, he forced himself to calm down. After all, it wouldn't do any good to be so uptight about this whole matter.

It wasn't even a _matter_, so no need to get so worked up.

That thought instantly flew out of his head when Oshitari and Gakuto came into view, each holding a pouch neatly tied with red and blue ribbons. The material that the pouch was made of was transparent, and thus Shishido gave in to the urge to scratch at the back of his neck harshly at the sight of those innocent looking cookies inside those innocent see-through pouches.

With a grumble, he took hold of his racket and his towel and neared the other doubles team of Hyotei. "Have you seen Choutarou?"

Both of them gave him similar looks of surprise. Gakuto replied first, raising an eyebrow that would have been insulting, but Shishido wasn't in the mood for quarrels right now, and thus the insulting attribute of that raised eyebrow was ignored. "His class is doing a cooking project today, so he couldn't attend practice. Didn't you know?"

_Obviously, or else I wouldn't be asking, _Shishido wanted to say, but settled for a shrug as he walked away, until Oshitari's smug-filled voice filled his ears.

"You haven't received cookies, have you, Shishido?"

Shishido pretended to not have heard that.

A smirk was practically embedded in Oshitari's voice. "Pity. The cookies taste delicious."

Instead of walking through the straight path towards the tennis courts, Shishido turned the corner and went straight for the school buildings and Choutarou's classroom.

**iii**

When Shishido arrived, the classroom was empty.

Then he nearly smashed his racket against the wall upon realizing the fact that _obviously_, the classroom would be empty. Who would bake cookies inside a classroom? And oh, right. The class was probably already over, considering that the sun was starting to set. _Why _didn't he think of that?

Jaw clenching, he turned, resigning himself to simply spending the remaining of the day on the tennis courts and not thinking about Choutarou and not scratching at his neck and not wanting to smash his head against the fences in an effort to stop thinking about such trivial not-even-a-matter matters.

"Shishido-san?"

That small prickle of annoyance nearly completely faded away at the sight of Choutarou half-covered with dough and donning a very amusing pink, frilly apron with images of bright yellow ducks at the bottom. However, it came back again once his eyes attached themselves to the two pouches of cookies that Choutarou was holding on to.

"Shishido-san?" Choutarou tried again, blinking up at his sempai with eyelashes that seemed to have been dipped in cooking powder.

It wasn't a bad thing, Shishido added mentally, before addingyet _again_ that he shouldn't even be thinking those stuff at the moment.

"You weren't at practice." was his lame reply, which was _so uncool_, but at that time, Shishido couldn't even form up a proper reason as to why he was standing in front of Choutarou's classroom, still in his jersey, still holding his racket, and still sweating from practice.

Come to think of it, _why _was he in front of Choutarou's classroom?

Resisting the urge to slap himself silly and look like a complete lunatic, he said the only thing he could do to save what was remaining of his dignity. "I'm going to the clubroom."

"Ah, Shishido-san, wait!"

Shishido waited.

Choutarou continued, and although Shishido had his back to him, he could just _hear _the small smile playing at the second year's lips, the same smile that Choutarou always seemed to have when they were speaking with each other. "I'll just get cleaned up, Shishido-san, so please wait for me in the clubroom."

Shishido went straight for the clubroom.

**iii**

It was nearly evening and the sun was setting and stars were starting to become visible in the sky and they were walking home together and Choutarou was speaking, but Shishido wasn't listening, because he just couldn't put his finger on _why _the hell he was still bothered.

Oh. Right. It was those cookies.

Choutarou still had two pouches with him, both held with his left hand, and it irked Shishido to no end to see the cookies bounce innocently inside the pouches with every step Choutarou took at the corner of his eye.

"Don't I get a cookie?"

It wasn't like he wanted that question to slip from his mouth and make him sound like a spoiled brat, but it _did_, and it wasn't like he meant to cut Choutarou off from whatever he was talking about, but he _did_, and that was so uncool, and Shishido was feeling so lame right now that his neck was starting to itch yet again.

Choutarou had every right to stare at him, which is what he was doing now. Then, a small blush of embarrassment colored Choutarou's cheeks as he scratched the back of his head whilst looking anywhere _but _at his sempai. "Shishido-san, you said you hated sweets, so I didn't think you'd like it if I gave you some. Especially mine and I'm not really good at cooking, but… uhm… Shishido-san…"

Obviously, he still had more to say, but in an effort to regain what was left of his dignity _again_ (which wasn't much), Shishido felt the need to speak up, even if he did feel like every ounce of blood in his body had just rushed up to his face. "I don't care if it's made by Choutarou."

What followed after that was five whole seconds of awkward silence for Shishido, but he really couldn't blame the other, so he gathered the courage to look up into Choutarou's face to apologize for being so lame, but the words died in his throat and he forgot to breathe right then and there because Choutarou's smile was practically blinding and just simply... beautiful.

"Would you like a cookie, Shishido-san?"

Shishido ignored the fact that that particular phrase would have sounded weird and funny if coming from any other junior high school student to another junior high school student, but it was _Choutarou_, and Choutarou was offering him a cookie, and it would really be so uncool of him to ruin the moment by stating that, so he simply took the cookie, the itch at the back of his neck now almost completely gone, and bit down.

Shishido wasn't a fan of sweets, but somehow, as the sun slowly sank in the horizon, standing in the middle of the street with Choutarou in front of him, smiling big and expectant as he ate something that Choutarou had made, Shishido couldn't help but decide that, as the chocolate chips melted in his mouth, no other cookie had tasted so much like heaven before.

**- e n d -**


End file.
